A few weeks ago, Pol Espargaró returned to MotoGP for his first wildcard after retiring full-time at the end of last season. The Italian GP, held on the difficult Mugello circuit, was the chosen round. Espargaró accepted without considering some aspects that he will take into consideration in the future.
In Motorsport.com’s Por Orejas podcast, the Spanish Red Bull KTM rider made no secret that the challenge was significant: ‘It was very hard and very stressful because it was not a circuit I had chosen or preferred to compete. Also, I think the situation I was in wasn’t ideal for riding in Mugello due to the lack of speed I had. I hadn’t been on the bike since the test on the Monday after the Jerez GP. So, I lacked a lot of speed, but I did what I could and the important thing was to gather information for the team, and everything went well‘.
Considering all conditions, Espargaró did not have ambitious goals, with the main aim of finishing and gathering information, as he explained: ‘Last year I didn’t race in Mugello because I was injured, so expectations were very low. The bar that we set within the team, within the factory, was very low because there were some parameters that we didn’t control well. For example, the motorcycle; the bike was very, very different […] , there were a lot of new components and I had only driven it in Jerez after the race. And we didn’t know how all these new things would work in Mugello. So, since everything was very uncertain, I lacked track time, speed and the expectations were so low that in the end the result was good. What came was important as long as we managed to finish the race and gather information, which was essential‘.
And what was Espargaró’s response to the invitation to Mugello? ‘We assumed you were eager to compete! I was out of racing for a very short time and didn’t really care where to compete. So, I waited like a kid coming out of school waiting for candy – waiting to be told when and where to compete, and I agreed, I didn’t care. Obviously, seeing how things went and what you are subjected to driving on a circuit like Mugello, next year I will try to plan things differently, and I have also informed the test team, to prepare a little more for this type of event. But still, when they proposed it to me, it’s clear that I didn’t think about all the conditions: I didn’t think that I hadn’t ridden in Mugello last year, I didn’t think that I would be back on the bike after a month’s break, with a completely different bike from the one I’m used to‘, he said.
